Frustration, Emotion Set in For Charlotte, Rockets Take Control with Dominant 2nd Half
A one-possession game at halftime quickly evolved into a 138-104 blowout home loss for the Charlotte Hornets, following easily their worst defensive half of the entire season.
Miles Bridges led five Charlotte players in double figures with a team-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, marking his fifth straight 20-point game and 14th in the past 17 appearances. Nick Richards followed up his career night in Detroit with 14 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and established new personal highs for free-throw makes (eight) and attempts (11).
Even with Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball both on the bench for the entire second quarter because of foul trouble, Charlotte attacked the paint and made it to halftime down, 55-53. Houston busted the game wide open in the third though, converting its first 11 shot attempts around a slew of Charlotte shooting fouls. When the 12-minute session finally ended, the Rockets had scored 44 points on 75% shooting and hit 12-of-14 freebies. Houston kept its foot on the gas in the fourth, eventually taking the second half by a considerable 32-point margin.
“In this league, you’ve got to have the right intensity, the right concentration for 48 minutes,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “It’s actually one of the things we’ve been good at. You have to be able to play well when the game’s not going well for your team or for you. That’s one of the things we’ve been good at. We weren’t tonight. We played great in the first half to have it at that score without Brandon and ‘Melo being able to play much. When we started the third, we became just the opposite of what we had done in the first half.”
Added PJ Washington. “It’s frustrating. We can’t be blaming the referees for the way we played. We basically just let them (Houston) do whatever they wanted in the second half. In the third quarter, they ran off a couple of shots, got up 12 and then it was bad basketball from there. We have to do a better job being professional and being ready to play the whole game. It feels like we just gave up [in the second half]. It’s unacceptable. Tonight, we played horrible.”
Jalen Green ran up a season-high 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting (11-of-12 from the free-throw line), with almost half his scoring coming in the third (17). Rookie Cam Whitmore tallied new career highs in both points (24 on 9-of-18 shooting) and rebounds (11) in only 20 reserve minutes for his first double-double, helping Houston win its third straight over the Hornets.
Houston’s 83 second-half points also came on 75% shooting (30-of-40) and included a 10-of-14 mark from behind the 3-point line (71.4%). The 136 total points tied a season high for the Rockets and sealed just their fifth road win of the 2023-24 campaign (now 5-15).
The Hornets will finish off their second straight weekend with an all-home back-to-back against the Utah Jazz on Saturday, Jan. 27 beginning at 7 PM ET. Catch all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.
2024-01-26
Foul-Prone Hornets Get Blasted By Rockets In Return Home
Sam Perley, NBA.com/Hornets
Frustration, Emotion Set in For Charlotte, Rockets Take Control with Dominant 2nd Half
A one-possession game at halftime quickly evolved into a 138-104 blowout home loss for the Charlotte Hornets, following easily their worst defensive half of the entire season.
Miles Bridges led five Charlotte players in double figures with a team-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, marking his fifth straight 20-point game and 14th in the past 17 appearances. Nick Richards followed up his career night in Detroit with 14 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and established new personal highs for free-throw makes (eight) and attempts (11).
Even with Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball both on the bench for the entire second quarter because of foul trouble, Charlotte attacked the paint and made it to halftime down, 55-53. Houston busted the game wide open in the third though, converting its first 11 shot attempts around a slew of Charlotte shooting fouls. When the 12-minute session finally ended, the Rockets had scored 44 points on 75% shooting and hit 12-of-14 freebies. Houston kept its foot on the gas in the fourth, eventually taking the second half by a considerable 32-point margin.
“In this league, you’ve got to have the right intensity, the right concentration for 48 minutes,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “It’s actually one of the things we’ve been good at. You have to be able to play well when the game’s not going well for your team or for you. That’s one of the things we’ve been good at. We weren’t tonight. We played great in the first half to have it at that score without Brandon and ‘Melo being able to play much. When we started the third, we became just the opposite of what we had done in the first half.”
Added PJ Washington. “It’s frustrating. We can’t be blaming the referees for the way we played. We basically just let them (Houston) do whatever they wanted in the second half. In the third quarter, they ran off a couple of shots, got up 12 and then it was bad basketball from there. We have to do a better job being professional and being ready to play the whole game. It feels like we just gave up [in the second half]. It’s unacceptable. Tonight, we played horrible.”
Jalen Green ran up a season-high 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting (11-of-12 from the free-throw line), with almost half his scoring coming in the third (17). Rookie Cam Whitmore tallied new career highs in both points (24 on 9-of-18 shooting) and rebounds (11) in only 20 reserve minutes for his first double-double, helping Houston win its third straight over the Hornets.
Houston’s 83 second-half points also came on 75% shooting (30-of-40) and included a 10-of-14 mark from behind the 3-point line (71.4%). The 136 total points tied a season high for the Rockets and sealed just their fifth road win of the 2023-24 campaign (now 5-15).
The Hornets will finish off their second straight weekend with an all-home back-to-back against the Utah Jazz on Saturday, Jan. 27 beginning at 7 PM ET. Catch all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.